User Reviews

An impressive (and very underrated) beer. A solid Rauchbier, and one of the few beers in which chili is a welcome ingredient. De Molen seems to have found the sweet spot in which a subtle touch of chili adds to the beer (I've yet to try a beer before this one in which the spicy heat did anything but detract from an otherwise well-done base beer). Dark, with a good malt body, and just the right amount of heat.

330ml bottle - dubbed a smoked/spiced stout, without specifying any sort of spice agent in the ingredient list.

This beer pours a rather hazy, dark brown colour, with a gushing amount of puffy, finely foamy, and creamy beige head, which leaves some chunky falling volcanic ash lace around the glass as it slowly melts away.

The carbonation is quite heavy-handed in its mouth-filling frothiness, the body an adequate medium weight, and not too bad in terms of smoothness, as long as you're okay with a big ol' dose of cognitive dissonance when it comes to the pervasive smoky elements, I suppose. It finishes off-dry, with a lessening of the Big Smoke (sorry, Toronto) and spicy essences, alongside the lingering complex maltiness.

Smoke and Fire is certainly an appropriate moniker for this intense offering - everything that Hel & Verdoemenis barrel-aged with Bruichladdich was not. Yeah, the smoked and whisky malts employed here must be from the Scottish isles, or from somewhere with a slavish appreciation for them. Anyways, one hell of a smoked brew, as along with the still unknown spice, the underlying stout doesn't get much love.

Dark brown, almost black. So and so foam.
Smoked smell, dark malts, peated. A touch of green hop, hints of chocolate and rhubarb.
Taste: dark malts and smoked. But it left very low taste in the mouth and in the aftertaste.
It is all upfront.
A bit boring.

Very smokey aroma; any chili heat or malt depth seems to get lost to the smoke. Slightly sweet. Very pleasant, I might add.

A touch sweet, almost fruity, with plenty of smoke, growing on the back-end. It leans toward woody (vice meaty and bacon-y). Perhaps a bit of back-end heat, but again, the peppers are lost in the smoke.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Thar she blows! A slow geyser on opening; I wasn't ready and lost 1/3 of the bottle. After mopping up, this pours a very dark mahogany brown, nearly opaque in the glass, with a half finger, light khaki head with great retention and good lacing. Aroma is dominated by meaty smokehouse with light dark malt and a slight burn from the pepper. Flavor is also dominated by the smoke, but with much more dark toasted malt support, showing dark chocolate, hints of caramel and vanilla, nicely integrated, although smoke forward. Finishes with charred toasted malt, a hint of peat, and slight hop bitterness and a light pepper flavor which tastes more like vegetable pepper than pepper hotness . Medium bodied with a light creaminess and less carbonated than expected after the exciting opening. This was dated 2012, which I noticed after opening and I was relieved after the overcarbonated introduction that there is no sign of tartness or evidence of infection. In fact, this has aged nicely with the malt flavors well melded. The pepper has evidently mellowed, not hot, but with pepper flavor. The profile is solid imperial stout, but with added smoke and pepper flavors. I liked this quite a bit and regret the part that ended up on my walls and floor. I always look forward to new De Molen offerings, but will open the vintage ones in the sink from now on.

in my eyes these guys are becoming one of the kings, and frankly have been for some time, ahead of their time really, and i am only just discovering so many of their awesome beers now. just fantastic stuff here, smoked imperial porter with chili peppers. not sure how old this is, but the peppers must have faded off a bit, as they are there in faint flavor, accent notes, but no heat at all, and its all way back. crazy pour like a lot of their other stuff, with a super tall mocha head of large soda bubbles and a dense chocolate brown color to the beer itself. the nose shows a lot of smoke right up front, almost peaty for a moment, wet and musky, with their familiar high gravity yeast in there as well. the peppers are way back, like in a dark chocolate bar, and bring out nuance without being a chili beer as most americans think of them. the flavor is really balanced between the smoke and the fire, which is what this label means. the booze serves to cut the intensity, and unite the elements. the yeast is again the star of another de molen beer, this time drying it out with a day old bread crust complexion and impossibly high carbonation. one of the things i like about these guys is their use of subtle european hops usually seen in pilsener types in these huge imperial stouts and porters. it gives the beers a very unique hop character and feel, and its common in several of their beers. these guys are pioneers, and while this one isnt my favorite that they do, its certainly up to the very high standards they have established with their other stuff.

Black with low mocha head, Low to average lacing. The aroma is wood smoke, also meaty aroma, leather. I don’t feel chilli at all. The taste is also smokey, leather, soy sauce and sweet. Palate it thin, low carbonation. The beer is lighter than you could expect, due to sweet character very drinkable. Really nothing special.

Pours pitch black, small tan head quick to a bubbly lace and some specks.
Smell of salty dark malts, smoked cheese, some peat, dark chocolate, faint vanilla, some dried plum, faint chili peppers (something like bell pepper pulp).
Sweet, a bit sour and juicy up front, did not expect that. A raisin and plum zing, even a somewhat citrusy note, quickly caught up by dark malts, roasted, grainy, almost bready, smoked, with a hint of dry scotch and faint peat. Bit of caramel and chocolate, too little. Some tobacco in the finish and mild chilis, not that bold, with just a subtle warmth. Quite a large amount of bitter hop too, especially for the style.
Light body, "wet", medium carbonation. Aftertaste has some roast, faint spirit and light peppers.
Not the smokiest of beers, rather light, same goes for the chili part. Easier to drink, but probably many people will find it lacking.

Aroma, Some woody beachwood smoke. Lighter toffee and malt. Some of the typical Belgian yeast I detect in their brews. Improves as it warms, smoke more prevelent and yeast less.

Taste, A lot of woody smoke again. Heavy toasted malt, peaty and leather. Earthy, toffee. Could maybe use a little more sweetness, say caramel and chocolate. Still pretty nice.

Body, the weakest part here. The carbonation is just too prickly. Lessens the body significantly. Drinks pretty easy though, abv is non-existent.

Honestly my expecations are never that high for De Molen, the half Belgian half other style brews they do are always just a bit of a miss for me. This one however, is a strong representation for the style. If they could just get that carbonation under control.

Smell - Smoke and lots of chocolate. I dig the chocolate. The smoke is incorporated well, I thought it might be stronger. Slightly peaty and meaty aroma, too.

Taste - Much less smoke at the front. More caramel and chocolate. Not a really dark chocolate, sweeter and creamier. Smoke starts to build and finishes with a strong slightly briny flavor. Might be the remnants of peppers, which I don't get distinctively.

Mouthfeel - Way overcarbonated. Makes it feel light and detracts from the flavors.

Overall - After drinking a bit of this, I lost interest in it quickly. Not rich enough and the chocolate flavor dropped off.

S: Smoke and chili hit you like a punch in the face. slight whiskey character with tons of wood. leather and tobacco at the seams of this beer.

T: Fatty bacon and big wood characters jump out of this one. Hickory and peat. Smoke and whiskey. Caramel chocolate and bread. I tell you these flavors for me are coming in twos! a leather and tobacco with more smoke. a small hint of heat and chili spice. a slight bitter earthy finish.

M: Lighter than i would have expected. long lingering smoke.

O: wow. this is an interesting beer to say the least. good malt, great smoke, alot of earthy flavors. I couldn't drink alot of this but it is very enjoyable and would go so well with a nice robust steak or cigar. /88

This one pours a light bodied milk chocolate brown with a billowing three finger, very carbonated and active mocha head. Like most of their 12oz bottles, this one appears to be a little too carbonated. The nose is full of chile pepper, leather, and peat. It's very intriguing. I'm glad it holds its own on the pepper front. The flavors are smoky, dry, leathery, has some bark to it, and earthy musty pepper. It's interesting. It's peaty. The peaty characteristic is it's greatest strength. It drinks lighter in body than you'd think, because of the carbonation. It's effervescent. Overall this was a nice smoked beer. It was pretty well balanced between the peat, earth, and pepper. Solid beer from De Molen.

Fresh bottle at Volo release day. Outstanding smoked. Aromas of rich smoked malt and wine. Very rich malt, chocolate, peat, whisky, really tasty, with chiles in the finish.Good amount of retained head. One of the best beers I have had in last few months.

Smoked beer with chili peppers...what could go wrong? Dark brown in color with an off-white head. Intensely smokey with lots of roasted malt, mild char, and maybe a bit of dark chocolate. Interesting, the chili peppers aren’t all that strong. The smoke is just as strong on the palate is on the aroma. A touch of peat to go along with all the char and ash. Maybe even a bit of glue, a moderate spiciness, and some burnt nuts. Not very pleasant.

The first impression upon opening a bottle of Rook & Vuur (which by the way translates to Smoke & Fire), is it's overflowing and indomitable dark brown foam quickly filling the stein and contracting like a tofu in an Heavy Metal concert.

I for one like foamers. Theres nothing more romantic that having a beer you've never had before tell you 'I'm a beer - And an interesting one at that!'

Anyway, the color is pretty much what you'd expect to see in other empirically 'stronger' Porters (Smoked, Robust, American, etc) while in meantime the aroma shows itself like a pudding of citrus, coffee, chocolate, bacon, earth, and a distinct 'something else' i can't really point my finger in.

The aroma isn't the expression of exuberance i was hoping for. It's actually kinda dull and 'closed' at best and plain muddy at worst.

Fortunately, the tongue doesn't really follow on the nose THAT closely. It's still muddy, but at the same time, surprisingly refreshing! Theres (protuberant) citrus notes(Lemon?); assertive chocolate, smoke, earth and some flowers. You definitely get the vegetable chili taste, and it works nicely, to be honest. But it's not too prominent to the point that i would single it out on a tasting without background information on the beer.

I'm surprised at the hop profile, as it's doesn't have the flowery Saaz (Premiant is a Saaz cross by the way) profile i'm used to getting, skewing heavily into a lemon profile you'd expect to taste in an obscure American hop or unknown Asian or Oceanic exotic hop.

It's coating on the tongue, with low bitterness and carbonation and not really spicy.

All in all, it kinda feels gimmicky and ends up being somewhat muddy and confusing (to my palate atleast). It does surprisingly well as a refreshing beer in the summer, though.

Served straight from the refrigerator and allowed to warm over the course of consumption. Side-poured with extra vigor as carbonation issues are anticipated due to the brewery.

Not paired with food.

A: Pours a monstrous nine finger head of okay cream and thickness, and annoyingly good retention. Colour is a solid black. Plentiful yeast particles are visible. Sweet jesus this is yeasty for a rauchbier. No bubble show.